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[Farmergnome]

god rays are cool, but seem oddly hyperrealistic. Clashes a bit with the style. Maybe roughen them up a bit/flatten them out? Maybe that would help with the cpu load too. I was hoping for a video!

Haha jk

Hmmm I wonder what it might look like with stencil/cutout pixel shadows, ill probably run some tests later today I guess.  I do agree that it maybe too realistic, but the subtle colour changes in the background are pretty.  Npcs are working now, and I should have something to show tonight, and demo in a few days of the first area hopefully!

[Farmergnome]

Fairly big update today, lots of visual updates, one major gameplay addition to the level structure (dividing the gameplay into a entering/escaping phase), all of which can be seen in today's video, so tell me what you think of the changes!  Text is a bit rough and temp, a lot of minor stuff thats still very temp (POW teleporting/etc).  NPC's are in but they need a bit more graphic love so ill save them for the next video, still trying to figure out how to structure the level setup stuff to work best with the map.

Oh and Chris Geehan has offered to do the audio for the game which is super win  

[hyperduck]

 

[Franklin's Ghost]

Hey great update, can tell lots of new work has been done. Like the saving the prisoner and having to escape with them 

Only thing that I noticed might need some work is that when the alarm goes off and you're trying to escape the red tint seems to make everything look really washed out and muddy. Maybe flashing the red every once in awhile instead might help.

[sonicblastoise]

More work for/by HyperDuckChris?? Excellent!

As for the splitting of levels into two segments, super cool. It gets me nostalgic for the old Metroid escape sequences. How about implementing some kind of procedural randomization for enemy placement/type on escaping to spice it up a bit? I noticed that you already have something that makes those placed guns face the other way, but maybe something a bit more sophisticated like harder (but fewer) enemies or a horde of enemies right before the exit (or maybe something in between) that is simply different from the initial run in. After all, you're breaking out POWs, so it's an ESCAPE right? AMPED UP SECURITY!

As you can see, I'm pretty stoked at how this is all coming together. It kind of just has that...stuff to it that I like.

Keep up the good work. 

[SolarLune]

As for the splitting of levels into two segments, super cool... How about implementing some kind of procedural randomization for enemy placement/type on escaping to spice it up a bit? I noticed that you already have something that makes those placed guns face the other way, but maybe something a bit more sophisticated like harder (but fewer) enemies or a horde of enemies right before the exit (or maybe something in between) that is simply different from the initial run in. After all, you're breaking out POWs, so it's an ESCAPE right? AMPED UP SECURITY!

Agreed. This sounds like a good idea. Perhaps on the way out, the initial passages are now blocked and locked. Maybe you could shoot through them, but you'd probably just head down alternate (now open) passageways to freedom.

[Farmergnome]

Thats really cool guys, was quite a good series of suggestions so ive added the following:

- enemies spawning from doors during alert stages
- randomizing some enemy locations
-I'm considering adding barricaded type wall off sections that the enemies create, sort of like a barricade with a firing squad guarding doors and such, so players have to bust through it.

And to go even more full retard I want to add:

-underwater / submarine stages will flood in alert phase (its still in planning- haven't blocked the levels out yet)
-Stages that fall to bits during the alert phase, things like collapsing rooms, etc.


In other news, ive added the following non alert stuff to tonight's update:

- The player now enters the level via parachute after crash landing his plane at the start of every level.
-A whole heap of mission complete/mission start type prompts.
-A bit more responsive prisoner AI.
-Tanks bitches, tanks.

[Franklin's Ghost]

Great tank, although an awesome enemy logo on the side in the empty space would look nice 

Can't wait to see all the new ideas and changes in game. Sounding good. Like the idea of the flooding areas.

[Farmergnome]

Good idea man, they actually started out originally with a coat of arms type symbol with a parasite in the center, but that got scrapped at some point.  Another idea ive been throwing around is the weapon collection / use scheme:


The easy/safe choices

-Standard collect the weapons, select them at the start of the mission from a drop down list.
-Collect weapons, swap them whenever you want via 2 more keys (not preferable due to lots of controls)
-Collect weapons and swap current weapon for them via crates/etc.


Or go full retard...

-Use a Gradius top down shooter type approach to things where you level up a bar and essentially add another weapon to your arsenal as you fire.  Dying resets the progress, or at least reverses it a little.  Might match the stupidity level pretty well when your character is like dual firing a machine gun, a lazer gun, and every second or two shooting off a rocket.

Might be too much...

[RayJack]

-Standard collect the weapons, select them at the start of the mission from a drop down list.

This is my favourite, but probably just because I loved Vile mode so much in MMMHX. The best fit would most likely be

-Collect weapons and swap current weapon for them via crates/etc.

[Farmergnome]

Credits and opening town level and first mission, and lots of adjustments, tanks and stuff, playing nice.  Ignore the ripped (and kinda low bit-rate) Rambo tunes and other misc music, Chris has already started replacing a lot of the sounds as you can hear.  So base camp is done, which is the first little town of the game, up next is the jungle caverns, still tons of bugs and stuff but its getting there.  Check out progress, more to come in a few days.  I imagine things will start to slow down a little next week as im making a follow up sequel to Under the Garden late next week, I doubt it will start to crawl though with two projects on the go, im pretty much psyched to get the first demo rocking and beyond.

[hyperduck]

Machine Gun volume is exceptionally high, I'm aware of this and will be adjusting it accordingly.

[laxwolf]

Awesome work. I like the change of setting. Needs a good amount of polish but it's coming together really nicely.

[Farmergnome]

Thanks Laxwolf, hopefully it should be there soon, im still trying to decide how much I still want to use the map I built for the more arcadey version, or if I go much more Metroid influence as far as traveling between missions, I think ill try both.  It could be cool to have the player trek out to each mission through a series of rooms etc, but might stack up the work also.

It could be cool navigating enemy infested forests and caverns and rivers and alike to try and find your mission, the game is setup for that sort of stuff, It will come off alot closer to a Metroidvania however....

EDIT: ZELDA 2 MAP system.  It works beautifully.

[Franklin's Ghost]

Great new video, like all the new stuff and nice to see the tank in game. All looking great so far 

[Farmergnome]

Been heavily distracted on Under the Ocean this week, but have been adding a map screen that replaces the old Bionic Commando node based deal with a more Zelda 2 overworld map approach, behold.  Also lots of minor tweaks and bug fixes, but as a whole, pretty side tracked this week...

Also improved npc conversations and now you can kill them all    Chris has done a pass on the sound effects also, music should be coming soon!

[hyperduck]

I am.. in love with this game.

[SolarLune]

Great tank. I think the guy's too stationary in the middle, though - maybe he could bob up and down, or shift left to right? Anyway, awesome tank, indeed.

[laxwolf]

FUCK YEAH.

[Franklin's Ghost]

Nice new video and like the map screen